Identity and Experience_Hamilton_1996

6 Identity and Experience
'not clinging or grasping'. The former does not in any way compromise the
teaching that there is nothing in samsiira that is unconditioned. Indeed, we
read in a passage about Nirvana, which ir referred to as the unconditioned,
that it is without the four elements, a confirmation of the conditioned nature
of the four elements themselves: "Monks, there exists that condition
[Nirvana] wherein is not earth nor water nor fire nor air.. .". l2 Anything to
which analysis in terms of the four elements is applicable, therefore, is part
of conditioned existence. The meaning 'underived' refers, rather, to the
fact that these four elements cannot be further broken down or analysed in
the way that, for example, a foot or a hand, both of which are complex
organs with more than one function, can be broken down or analysed to
the point where it is seen that they consist of an aggregate of elements. Put
abstractly, a complex organ is an aggregate which has characteristics that
are signified by more than one type of element. In this unaggregated sense
no-upidi means 'underived'. The latter meaning, 'not clinging or grasping',
suggests that rzipa has an underived state that is not the product of grasping.
In the context of the nipakkhandha, this is not explained any further, but the
similar term anupidi is regularly found in other contexts in the JVikZyas in
the sense of not having any more of the fuel (grasping) necessary for
rebirth, not clinging to the world. It is grasping, more usually called
volition, which leads to continued rebirth, continued human existence. In
the light of this, no-upid5 nipa means 'primary' in that it has not (yet) been
firthm conditioned by intention.13 In the Atthasilinc the commentary on the
Dhammasanganf of the Abhidhamma Pitaka, this point is made explicitly:
"Upda means 'it grasps'; this means grasping the [four] great elements; not
letting (them) go, such (secondary/derived forms) exist depending on
them".14 This all suggests that the cattiro rnahzbhziti are as it were the
potential states from which the body, conditioned by one's karma
(intention), is derived; or, put differently, they represent the potential
characteristics of the body.
As well as no-upidi, rzipa is also described in the Sutta Pitaka as 'derived'
or 'secondary' (upczdq. In the simple analyses of the rzipakkhandhd there is no
mention of what upi& nipa comprises, and we shall see that the situation is
not clear in the comprehensive description of the rzipakkhandha either.
Though the commentary on the particular canonical passage we are
discussing makes no comment on what ~piidi rzipa means,15 the Theravada
Buddhist tradition has generally understood the term updi nipa specifically
to refer to the senses (usually taken to be the physical sense organs) and
their corresponding sense objects, collectively called gatanas. A typical
definition of upa'di rCpa is given in the Dhammasanganiof the Abhidhamma,
where it is stated to refer to ten of the gatanas (that is excluding the sixth
sense, manas, and its corresponding object, dhammZ).16 In the Vibhanga the
same ten 6yatunas are in turn described as the four great elements which are
derived," which amounts to the same thing put differently. In the At.thasa'lin